Chương 809: Stray Star Mercenaries.

At the center of the base Liu Shu had discovered, a man and a woman sat across from each other while eating calmly. The artificial light cycles made the room somewhat dim, as if it were sunset hours. The woman commented, somewhat worried.

"Husband… are you sure that we should not move?" The man was tall, with a powerful build and a somewhat stern expression. His thick beard and small scars made him look like someone who had gone through many battles. Along his skin, faint green lines could be seen, evolutions that occurred during his two <Ascensions>. As levels grew, pure-looking humans became rarer, but not impossible to find.

Still, since a human's biggest advantage was their ability to basically branch out to any path and flexibly mix those paths, those who chose a purely human evolution were rare. The man glanced at his wife and spoke, confused.

"Why are you so worried this time around? You weren't this worried even when we made business in the Nexus territory." The woman placed a hand on her slightly bulging lower stomach and sighed.

"It's just… I am worried lately. The feats that World Tree has achieved, even repelling someone as terrifying as General Rhazor, are dangerous." The man spoke lightly.

"Generals like Rhazor are often repelled on the frontlines between the Covenant and the Nexus. There is no reason at all for us to feel fear toward them. Our <Stray Star Mercenary Group> won't retreat just because it is a little bit dangerous." The woman was about to speak when the chair below her began swaying, the woman hastily clutching at the edges of the table not to fall. Right after, a small rumbling sound reached them.

"W-What's wrong?" The woman asked, somewhat panicked. Meanwhile, the man quickly picked a communication device.

"L-Lord Stray Star! It's bad! Roots are attacking our base!"

"Roots?"

"Yes, Lord! Blue glowing roots! They must be from a World Tree!" The woman's face turned pale when she heard that, and even the man's expression turned solemn. He quickly stood up, changed into his battle clothes, and flew outside.

"Farian! Don't go! Let's flee!" The woman's scream reached him, but he didn't stop and quickly flew outside. Unlike the woman, he had gathered much more information about the threat approaching them. The public information said that it wasn't the World Tree who defeated Rhazor, but a female hornet kin, a queen at that. This information was something that the Covenant's envoys learned about after staying in Liu Shu's domain for a while and spreading it publicly.

It was both to say to others that Liu Shu was not a crazy enough World Tree to kill <Second Ascensions> while being a <First Ascension> being. Sadly, this information, which they "leaked," was also part of what Liu Shu initially "allowed" to be known. It was a diffuser toward those who were looking her way warily. Moreover, soon after they spread this information, Liu Shu went through the <Ascension>, becoming a threat that Rhazor would've been horrified to face.

Her strength was such that she could probably repel Rhazor's entire army by herself were they to attack again, even without relying on her Arboreal Winged Serpents. Not knowing this, Farian, the leader of this group, flew outside and summoned his weapon, a massive, two-meter-long saber. Once outside, he used essence to spread his voice around.

"World Tree, stop at this instant! You don't want to face us with your strength!" Liu Shu glanced over and checked the man who appeared out of nowhere.

"Let's see… Level 210, around 90 <Phoer Body Stars>, around seven million <Physique>..." After looking at these things, Liu Shu blinked and smiled.

"Quite a weakling." Having reached Level 220 herself, her ternary essence reserves without buffs were already at over 240. Not to mention, her stats were all above 10. 5 million without buffs. To summarize, Liu Shu looked at the Level 210 powerhouse and used her soul attack.

"Die." Her <Well Of Souls And Enchantmen (S- Rank)>, which had the following entry [Your voice can be a guide for souls, or the sound that snuffs them like candles in the wind. +25% soul damage], activated for the first time. When it did, her Anima Energy flowed out of the void, condensed, and then barreled toward Farian like an invisible meteor. Farian was going to sneer at Liu Shu's words, but a second later, the world turned white as an explosive sound burst into his brain. BANG! [-478, 100, 000, 000!!] (-4, 781, 000!!) (-47. 8) The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Terrifying 470+ trillion shards of damage barred against his soul, making his ears ring and his eyes lose their sight. Half of his <Phoer> being struck in a single attack through soul damage stunned her completely. Liu Shu, seeing that massive number, felt her lips arch pleasantly.

"Not bad, that was a casual use of the skill. Sadly…" Liu Shu looked around the base and noticed plenty of low-level people. If she attacked without any consideration, the loss of Experience Points would be terrifying.

"I guess… this is why powerhouses don't go around taking over random locations. It is quite a hassle to deal with them. After all, the System doesn't usually distinguish between good and bad." The only times Liu Shu had heard about negative <Titles> being born was when people caused the massacre of World Trees indiscriminately. Many low-level people dealing with low-level World Trees got those negative titles.

'As for higher-level ones dealing with True World Trees…' She wasn't sure what consequences there were for taking down such an existence, as killing a True World Tree was a rare event.

"So… the best course of action is subduing them, I guess." Her eyes scanned the place and saw that this group had prisoners as well. She didn't jump to conclusions, as these prisoners might be traitors or something like that, instead of slaves. Slavery, not promoted nor founded by any major power, was carried out by black merchants and the like. It was one of those silent practices, like drugs and similar crimes.

But looking at these prisoners, Liu Shu could tell that they were in prison not to be sold, but because they had committed some wrong within their group. Now, wrongs were subjective, but Liu Shu didn't care much. Moving on, she noticed that, from the place that the stunned man had left, there was a pregnant woman. This woman was a beastkin of some bird family, as she had two small wings behind her back, and her ears were not human but more like an owl's.

One of her roots pierced through the defenses easily and barreled into that room. She had checked that the pregnant woman was Level 180, so there was no problem depressing the room. From Level 100 onwards, surviving in space was possible to a certain extent.

"Aaahh!" The woman screamed, jumping back quickly at the sight of the root piercing into her roots. Then, the terrified woman saw the root unbound into ribbons and reform, transforming into a wooden figure. The wooden avatar opened her eyes, revealing deep, blue-glowing eyes. Then, she smiled.

"Hello, I am the Heavenly Willow. A True World Tree that has appeared nearby. I overheard some of your people speaking about how you were going to ride my ships, so I decided to come and talk." The woman almost pissed herself in fear.

"D-Don't kill me, p-please. A-As you see, I am pregnant. P-Please, Lady World Tree. Please don't, hic, kill me." Liu Shu looked at the Level 180 woman who had lost strength to the point that she was about to have an accident and frowned.

"If you didn't want to be killed, why are you doing something that's no different from banditry? I mean, I can't really kill you because of my High Level. However, I can easily suppress you, you know that?" The woman trembled, not really knowing how to answer the monstrous being in front of her. The ceiling broke again, startling her, and the woman saw Farian being carried down by one of Liu Shu's roots. The man was staring blankly and without blinking, with a faint trail of drool at the corner of his beard.

The mental shock from having half of one's vitality struck from soul damage was quite terrifying. The woman hiccuped, tears falling down her face. Her man, who was not weak in the slightest, had been treated like a child in front of an adult. Liu Shu, knowing that things would not advance with the terrified woman, walked forward with her wooden Avatar and reached out to touch the man's forehead. The woman shouted, frantic.

"S-Stop! We won't do anything! Please let him go!" Liu Shu ignored her, and her wooden hand touched his forehead.

"<Touch Of The World>."

"N-Nooo!" Healing energies burst forth and drilled into the man's soul, mending the soul damage rapidly. A few seconds later, Farian's eyes flew open amidst the woman's despairing eyes.

"W-Where?" He looked around, panicked. His heart was beating fiercely, as if something terribly bad had occurred. However, Liu Shu's soul attack was such that his memory of the encounter had become fuzzy and hard to recall. The woman was stunned, looking back and forth with a bewildered and tear-streaked expression. Liu Shu glanced down at him and spoke.

"Farian, right?" The man looked at the wooden woman with deep, blue eyes, and his soul reacted instinctively, making him feel as if his heart was sinking.

"Who are you?" He tried to keep his cool, but a faint tremble could be heard in his voice. Liu Shu explained slowly.

"I am a True World Tree. You should've heard about me, right?"

"World… Tree…?" The man's eyes trembled.

"Heavenly Willow T-Tianlian Liu Shu…?" Liu Shu smiled.

"Good that things are developing quickly. I wanted to ask, since you are lawless people, what are your future plans? I don't really want to spend manpower and send an appropriately leveled army to deal with your group, so I wanted to ask… do you want to cooperate?" Farian's brain was trying to go as fast as it could, but there was still some sluggishness left from the previous attack. Knowing that he needed to answer quickly, and with no time to think deeply, he blurted out.

"What kind of cooperation?" Liu Shu nodded, as if admiring his choice.

"It's good for you. While I absolutely do not like your group, and you would've probably been executed were you part of my Golden Sap Empire, I am not someone who doesn't give second chances." Speaking to this point, Liu Shu smiled.

"Cooperate with me by giving up your independence. Become a force under my Golden Sap Empire and help me take over the nearby Solar Systems. You, as a Level 210 powerhouse, should have enough knowledge of the surrounding area to make it your… nest. Am I wrong?" Farian's eyes moved around a bit, and he asked.

"What's in it for me?" Liu Shu tilted her head.

"Well, you won't die or suffer if you are obedient. If you are disobedient…" Liu Shu's blue eyes gently moved sideways, falling onto the woman's stomach.

"It would be quite a shame for a child to be born fatherless. I can't kill others, but you… You are within my strike zone, Farian. So, what will it be?" Farian showed a bitter smile of defeat.

"For a World Tree… you are quite despicable." Liu Shu looked at him, as if offended by his words.

"Despicable? I am giving bandits a second chance at life, a chance that many of my dead enemies would've been jealous enough to rise from their non-existent graves, and you call me despicable? You are quite something." Then, she shrugged.

"Well, not that it matters. Let's talk." The woman and Farian felt their souls chill. For what they knew, World Trees were far less… animated compared to what they were dealing with. The fact that Liu Shu felt human-like was a terrifying prospect for a World Tree.